Shortly after her January 2004 inauguration Governor Kathleen Blanco declared a statewide Solutions to Poverty Summit. As a state employee who had been a soldier in the War on Poverty for over 30 years, I was less than enthusiastic and envisioned another round of desultory meetings resulting in a report destined to gather dust. I attended meetings in New Iberia, St. Martinville, Lafayette, Abbeville and other south Louisiana towns and my perception changed. The meetings were attended by a cross section of citizens, including the business community, who wanted to do something positive and knew that Blanco was sincere and serious in her purpose to make a difference.

The Governor had a plan that resulted in serious discussions of the root causes of poverty and how to improve health, education, housing, nutrition and transportation to provide opportunities for citizens to pull themselves out of poverty. Information from the local meetings was rolled up to the statewide level and in December 2004 the Solutions to Poverty Summit culminated in Monroe. The Governor kicked off with an inspirational speech that indicated 20.3 percent of Louisiana citizens lived below the poverty level, the highest rate in the nation. She said “As I prepared for this summit, I kept thinking of the Prayer of St. Francis which includes this: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light and where there is sadness, joy. In that prayer, I hear a call to serve … the call to serve our fellow men and women, to lift up the less fortunate, the call to improve our communities and our state.” I have no doubt that she meant every word and, if not for the impact of Katrina/Rita a few months later, she would have used the Summit findings to inform her policy decisions and would have continued to lead a bottom to top effort to reduce the poverty level. This is not to say that she did bring about improvements that reduced poverty, but we are left to wonder what might have been accomplished if not for the burden of recovery from Katrina/Rita and if she had had a second term. I had no doubt then, or now, that she was motivated by her humanity and empathy for the less fortunate and sincerely used the power granted to her as Governor to make lives better. History will be kind to her and Iberia Parish will forever be able to proudly claim a pioneer who was a very good governor and an even greater human being.

Ed Granger

New Iberia